Define "a Life"...

... still searching for a clear definition of that thing people keep telling me I need to get...

Name:
Location: Springfield, PA

Tuesday, November 02, 2004

Frelling politics!

Well, I voted. Polls in PA closed almost an hour ago. I can't bring myself to turn on the TV.

So I'll natter on about something completely disassociated with the election: FarScape.

I've been wondering what was going on with the Sci-fi Channel ever since they declined to pick up the series for a fifth season (read: canceled). They drop FarScape, but give us Scare Tactics? What's that about?

I finally made time to watch the FarScape: The Peacekeeper Wars so-called "mini-series" over this past weekend. (Sc-fi was calling it a mini-series; it's four hours of programming shown in two two-hour segments -- more "mini" than "series," if you ask me.) It was like a condensed version of the show, all the strengths and flaws intensified. They tied up a number of the loose and ragged ends that had been left hanging at the end of their final episode. The show ended each of its seasons with a cliffhanger of sorts, and when they ended Season Four they didn't know a Season Five was not to follow. We fans had been blindsided by the cancelation, and the folks at Jim Henson Productions (who make the show) were quick to promise that "something" would follow to provide some closure. That Sc-fi picked it up seems a sign of their eventual awareness of their mistake in canceling the show.

I don't suppose it's wholly coincidence that part of the mini-series' climax hinges on the need to convince the galaxy's two warring superpowers that there's no truth in the equation that claims The Bigger Weapon = Peace.

There's no point in gushing about the clever bits in the show -- if you know it, you've probably seen it already, and if you don't then I'd only be confusing you at best and, at worst, spoiling the pleasure of discovery should you take my recommendation to heart. FarScape was always a character driven SF show; in its belated finale, the standard SF concern with issues fit comfortably with all the show's traditional strengths.

FarScape -- proud owner of the high shining brass balls of TV science fiction shows. To the Sci-fi Channel I say:
"Andromeda? Please. I know FarScape; FarScape was a friend of mine; Andromeda, sir, you are no FarScape."

The same goes for Stargate: Atlantis

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